Voters to judge budgets Tuesday

Voters to weigh district budgets

By Rick Karlin

Updated 3:28 pm, Monday, May 19, 2014

When New Yorkers statewide head to the polls Tuesday to vote on their local public school budgets, there will be a twist.

Most of the state's 669 school districts have budget plans that were apparently crafted with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's tax freeze plan in mind, despite school officials' complaints about it. And a yes budget vote will carry a tax rebate check for many residential property owners.

More Information

Local budgets approved on the first vote: 97.6 percent (all but Niskayuna)

Statewide budgets approved on first vote: 95.3 percent

Most voters by local district: 5,638 in Niskayuna. (Bethlehem was a distant second at 3,823)

Fewest voters: 112 in Menands

Highest local percentage of yes votes: 86.7 percent in North Greenbush

Total percent of local yes votes: 67 percent

Total local voter turnout: 55,431

Approximate percentage of registered voters who went the polls: 11 percent

Note: Local districts are those based in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties. Niskayuna's budget was approved on the second vote.

Source: State Education Department, Times Union research

"It's sad, what's happened," South Colonie Superintendent Jonathan Buhner said earlier this month about the district's $95 million budget proposal, which would raise their property tax levy 2.64 percent.

While that's more than a percentage point above the inflation rate — in a time when many taxpayers have not received a pay raise in years — it won't be enough to avoid cutting bus drivers' hours and nine full-time teaching slots as well as guidance counselors, a nurse, custodian and others.

The good news is that homeowners in South Colonie, like others, won't be paying more for their school taxes than they did this year.

Because the 2.64 percent tax levy increase is below South Colonie's 2.66 percent cap, taxpayers will get a rebate from the state that will cover the increase.

For the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, the rebate would be almost $98. It represents the increase this year on a school tax bill of $5,414 before STAR exemptions, the district website said.

Critics, including the education lobby, deride the rebate as an election-year gimmick to benefit the governor.

But supporters will say it's the first time in decades that people won't be paying more to run their schools — an unheard of phenomenon in tax-heavy New York.

According to preliminary data submitted to the state, only 15 school districts out of 670 that have reported so far are going to try to override the cap. About 400 districts will collect fewer property tax dollars than they did in the prior year — although in some cases that's due to paying off bonds and other expenses.

Fear of voter backlash may be keeping districts from exceeding the cap. If they do, taxpayers don't get a rebate check.

The varying size of the tax cap is a big complicating factor.

It's often called a 2 percent cap but there are so many exceptions that the number is just a guideline at best.

Moreover, each district follows a complex formula that means it can either exceed the cap or fall below it.

The formula considers factors such as whether a construction debt is being paid off, if there are extra costs in pensions or enrollment growth (most districts are shrinking in size).

Thus while South Colonie's cap is 2.66 percent, Albany's cap is only 0.935 percent.

Albany taxpayers should actually pay a bit less this year, because the state rebate checks won't go below the 1.46 percent inflation level.

"Their taxes will actually go down," Budget Division spokesman Morris Peters said of districts with very low caps such as Albany.

In Bethlehem, the cap is 3.12 percent and voters are being presented with a 2.99 percent increase.

Likewise in Saratoga Springs, the tax levy increase is 2.24 percent, also within the cap.

Regardless, school officials feel pressured, since they contend the state has set many of the rules, including labor negotiation laws, under which they have to operate, that makes it nearly impossible to keep costs down.

State laws like the Triborough Amendment, which officials say puts unions at an advantage during contract talks; requirements for special education programs and pension costs could be changed by lawmakers and the governor if they had the political will to do so.

There are other complications and questions. Due to the varying value of homes and their tax assessments, the rebate checks can also vary widely.

The owner of an average price $153,000 home could get a $15 check, when the STAR exemption is counted, said Albany district spokesman Ron Lesko.

Those in high-priced locales like Westchester or Long Island could get rebates of several hundred dollars.

And next year it gets more complicated. That's when the rebates go out if districts submit cost savings plans that have to be approved by the state. The idea is to institute permanent savings that would kick in after the rebate ends next year. Details are still unclear about how savings would be generated going forward.